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7 cruises for people who hate cruises

For many Americans, the idea of cruising on a mass cruise line goes something like this: Hordes of too-close-for-comfort fellow passengers. Mediocre-at-best food. Rushed, unstimulating shore excursions. Oh, and drunk spring breakers spilling pink drinks in the hot tub.

Of course, that doesn’t stop millions from taking a cruise — 21.7 million people plan to take a cruise this year, up from 21.3 million in 2013 — nor does it prevent the big cruise lines from raking in the dough. For example, on Tuesday, Carnival Corp.
CCL, +0.25%
— which owns mass-market brands like Carnival, Holland America and Princess — said its third-quarter profits were robust. “Strong close-in demand and higher onboard spending helped drive significantly better than expected third quarter results and 15 percent year-over-year earnings improvement,” Carnival president and CEO Arnold Donald said in a statement.

Still,, nearly a third of people who have never taken a cruise say they don’t want to take one. And a Harris Interactive survey conducted in June found that perceived-quality scores for some of the major cruise lines had fallen 13% from earlier in the year, and consumer intent to purchase a cruise was down 11%.

Part of people’s reluctance to cruise, of course, stems from the deluge of embarrassing headlines for cruise lines over the past few years, including an alleged assault on a Holland America cruise, the Carnival “poop cruise,” the Costa Concordia shipwreck and the Royal Caribbean norovirus outbreak. Add to that the fact that some ships house more than 3,000 people, serve less-than-stellar food, have a Disneyland-like atmosphere (no offense to Disneyland, but it isn’t for everyone) and offer rushed cruise excursions that many will find neither culturally nor intellectually stimulating, and you can see why many people simply don’t want to cruise.

Here are seven cruises that experts say might tempt even those who think they won’t like cruising.

— By Catey Hill

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Aqua Amazon

Each stateroom on the Aqua Amazon — a ship that accommodates a maximum of 24 passengers (there’s roughly a one-to-one crew-to-guest ratio) and sails along the Peruvian section of the Amazon River — has near floor-to-ceiling windows that look out on the Amazon jungle. The naturalist guides onboard the ship will take you fishing in Charo and Carocurahuayte Lakes, help you explorethe Yacapana Islands, give guided tours through the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, and take you on a nighttime wildlife safari. The chef cooks authentic Peruvian cuisine, and you can combine this with a trip to Machu Picchu.

It’s called an “un-cruise” for a reason — it’s meant to appeal to people from whom the word cruise elicits a groan. This seven-night cruise, on a ship that sleeps fewer than 40 guests, takes you to “off-the-beaten-path Hawaii,” says Mollie Fitzgerald, co-owner of luxury travel company Frontiers International Travel. (A luau in a crowded bar in Maui is nowhere on your itinerary.) You’ll kayak through a lava hole, night snorkel with the Pacific manta rays, have an evening pa’ina (feast) with Moloka’i locals, and explore the marine life and history of the remote shorelines of primarily the easternmost of the Hawaiian Islands. The crew is mostly from the area, so they have a deep knowledge of both the local landscape and the people.

The Silver Galapagos ship houses just 100 guests and is “the best way to see the Galapagos Islands…otherwise you’d need to take a bunch of day trips,” says travel agent Stephanie Serino, luxury cruise consultant for Tzell Travel Group. On the seven-day cruise through the central islands, the guest-to-staff ratio is roughly one to one and the expedition team, which takes you through each of the islands, is certified by the Galapagos National Park Service. Guests will experience Espumilla Beach, a nesting site for the East Pacific green turtle; the volcanoes of Isabela, which are an average of 500,000 years old; Elizabeth Bay, a mangrove lagoon; as well as creatures like the Galapagos giant sea turtle, the yellow Galapagos land iguana, a slew of birds that live near Darwin Bay and sea lions.

Serino says that river cruises like this along the Mekong are among the best ways to see the area because many of the roadways are rough and the hotels aren’t that nice. This 16-day trip starts in Hanoi and takes travelers to Ha Long Bay; Siem Reap, the gateway to the Khmer empire; and Angkor Wat for three days. Then you embark on a seven-day river cruise along the Mekong, where you visit rural villages, floating markets, a Buddhist monastery and Ho Chi Minh City. The ship accommodates just 124 passengers and has a pool, fitness center and air conditioning in all the staterooms.

This eight-day cruise on the 310-guest Wind Surf ship — a large sailboat with massive billowing sails and a motor (so you actually move when there isn’t wind) — takes guests along the Spanish coast to explore the culinary and wine traditions of the area. You’ll enjoy two hosted dinners from well-respected American wine importers Stephen Metzler and Almudena de Llaguno of Classical Wines; vineyard and culinary shore excursions; trips to Jerez de la Frontera, the “sherry capital of the world,” and the Museo de Vino (Wine Museum) in Mijas; wine lectures; and an onboard flamenco performance

Chuck Flagg, founder of The Flagg Agency near Atlanta, recommends the Paul Gauguin cruises for a luxurious way to island hop through French Polynesia. The seven-day “Tahiti & Society Islands” cruise, aboard a 332-passenger ship with a crew-to-guest ratio of 1 to 1.5, leaves from Tahiti; then tours through Huahine in the Society Islands, known for their lush rain forests and well-preserved archaeological remains; Motu Mahana, a private islet with white sand beaches where you’ll learn traditional Tahitian cooking; azure-watered Bora Bora, where you’ll spend two days and take a four-wheel-drive safari; and Moorea, where you might embark on a dolphin-watching expedition. Passengers can do water sports, including windsurfing and kayaking, right off the back of the boat and can even get scuba-certified onboard.

The Sanctuary Ananda, a ship that accommodates 48 guests, takes cruisers along the Ayeyarwady and Chindwin Rivers in Myanmar to explore Buddhist culture and history with local Burmese guides. You’ll visit Sagaing, the center of Buddhism in Myanmar; the Sale monasteries; the textile workshops in Amarapura; the traditional shoe factories in Pakokku; Bagan, the 11th century capital of the country and home to more than 4,000 temples, Buddhist memorials and pagodas; and a number of tiny villages along the waterways.

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